Mecca, Medina and Baghdad
Mecca: the moving mihrab
Sleeping with his feet towards the holy place, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the sources say, told the qazi to turn them where God was not.
According to the Puratan Janamsakhi, Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji reached Mecca, lay down in the colonnade and fell asleep with his feet towards the Ka'ba. At the hour of evening prayer Qazi Rukn ud-Din came by and, in shock, asked him if he could not see where his feet were pointing. Bhai Gurdas calls the man Jivan and has him kick the sleeper.
Guru Ji replied: then turn my feet to the side where the house of God is not. The Qazi took them and pulled them round, and in every direction he turned them, the Ka'ba went too. He kissed the feet of this stranger and said that he had met a true man of God.
Miharban tells the same exchange and stops at Guru Ji's answer, which is how many modern readers also prefer it. Bhai Gurdas goes on to the debate that followed, and says a wooden sandal was kept as a memorial at Mecca.
How do we know?
The sources conflict on this story, or scholars doubt it.
Var 1 offers a separate exchange: asked whether Hindu or Muslim is greater, Guru Ji replies that neither has standing without good deeds. McLeod finds this fits Guru Ji's teaching in general, but doubts the Mecca setting.
- Early sourcePuts Guru Ji in blue at a Mecca mosque among pilgrims, and has the qazi Jivan kick him and drag his feet, and all Mecca seemed to revolve. (pauri 32)[Src]
- Later traditionQuotes the Puratan account with Qazi Rukn ud-Din and the turning of the Ka'ba, and notes the Var's name Jivan.[EoS]
- Later traditionHas a moving mihrab at Mecca with a descendant of Bahauddin as the questioner. (ff. 51-53, as cited in GNSR p. 123)[(tr.)]
- Later traditionReports that Miharban keeps the words but drops the miracle and sets the event on the road, and that early Bala versions set it in Medina. (pp. 123-124)[McLeod]
- ScholarshipClasses the visit as highly improbable because of the ban on non-Muslims and the likely need for a disguise. (pp. 122-125)[McLeod]
- ScholarshipReports Ganda Singh's judgement that a Mecca visit is not improbable and a Baghdad visit almost certain.[Grewal]
- ScholarshipThinks McLeod too hasty in denying any record of the visit. (preface)[Singh]
